Dennis Mangan recently discussed a new study which claims that Middle Eastern suicide bombers are more sad sacks than wild-eyed fanatics, driven towards their explosive final act not by Allah-ardor but simple world-weariness and clinical depression.

The latest, heart-warming, yuletide news from the city of Charles Dickens’s Xmas Carol concerns the slashing of a policeman’s throat in broad daylight in front of Xmas shoppers. I say “heart-warming” because once again the establishment is showing its usual charity to the criminal underclass by refusing to mention or even hint at the race, appearance, or even general demeanour of the attacker. We do get age (30) and gender (male).

Of course, we can fully understand their logic as it would be a heartbreaking tragedy if London’s cowed and jittery population were to be given this information and then take evasive action on seeing people who resembled the killer. My, what would that do for race relations in this throbbing, vibrant, Olympian Cosmopolis? Yes, the myth of racial harmony and the non-ethnic nature of crime must be enforced at all costs, and make no mistake about it, the editors of papers like the Daily Mail, where I first saw this story, have had their orders about such “sensitive topics.”

But, aren’t I assuming too much? Possibly. But then there is little alternative when there are glaring omissions from many crime stories.

The Return of the Repressed

First of all, the dreaded R-word, "racism"! I am not going to spend this entire article shying away from it or going round it. Nor am I going to accept Leftist definitions of it; nor, for that matter, overly defensive Rightist interpretations. Stripped of its connotations and associations, I want it, for the purposes of this article, to simply mean the phenomenon of people consciously valuing and preferring their own race, rather than unconsciously. For this second possibility I have another word, "sub-racism" — the theme of this article.

Whether racial consciousness produces Auschwitzes or polite, well-managed immigration restrictions is entirely another matter. My own belief is that openly discussing race and our natural race-based feelings is the best way to avoid serious unpleasantness; while not to do so is more likely to cause such unpleasantness. Assuming that the Holocaust did in fact happen — I automatically refuse to accept any view of history that needs to be enforced by law — it seems possible that part of the savagery was driven by racial ambiguity, caused by the degree to which Jews in Germany had interwoven themselves in German society, while at the same time remaining a distinct group.